Vending

Baton Rouge innovates with 24/7 drive-through vending machines coming soon

Photo: Adobe Stock

May 8, 2024

A company in Baton Rouge is developing fully automated 24/7 drive-through vending machines, according to a report from The Advocate.

Speed Bancroft, CEO of Speedy Eats, is spearheading the project and plans for the machines to allow customers to buy meals, snacks, drinks and other convenience items without having to leave their vehicles. Shoppers can log on to the Speedy Eats app, select their items, pay for them and then collect them by scanning a QR code at the stand-alone drive through vending machine.

Bancroft told the news outlet that it will take less than a minute for the machine to dispense things such as a combo meal of an entrée with chips and a drink. Bancroft has pivoted his vending machine ambitions from a pizza vending machine to a drive-through machine offering prepared foods.

"The failure rate for this is close to zero, because the equipment we're using is vending equipment," Bancroft told the news outlet. "We don't have to reinvent the system."

Bancroft aims to have the first machine running and open to the public by July of this year.